I just bought a re-conditioned VCU with 10 months warranty £199 (exchange) ebay. Had it fitted with 2 new bearings and the shaft balanced for £400 ALL IN!
Not the end of the world if you've got a decent Lander. Don't know if the old one was shagged or not but the rear wheels were kicking out on loose surfaces not now!,
however it's all running silky smooth now also the company that balanced my shaft cleaned it and painted it to match the re-con VCU so it all looked spanking!
(Des Shelley Shafts Wolverhampton)
 
I just bought a re-conditioned VCU with 10 months warranty £199 (exchange) ebay. Had it fitted with 2 new bearings and the shaft balanced for £400 ALL IN!
Not the end of the world if you've got a decent Lander. Don't know if the old one was shagged or not but the rear wheels were kicking out on loose surfaces not now!,
however it's all running silky smooth now also the company that balanced my shaft cleaned it and painted it to match the re-con VCU so it all looked spanking!
(Des Shelley Shafts Wolverhampton)
So have you done a one wheel up test to see what the reconditioned unit returns?
 
I just bought a re-conditioned VCU with 10 months warranty £199 (exchange) ebay. Had it fitted with 2 new bearings and the shaft balanced for £400 ALL IN!
Not the end of the world if you've got a decent Lander. Don't know if the old one was shagged or not but the rear wheels were kicking out on loose surfaces not now!,
however it's all running silky smooth now also the company that balanced my shaft cleaned it and painted it to match the re-con VCU so it all looked spanking!
(Des Shelley Shafts Wolverhampton)

How comes you didn't use Bell Engineering, as you're up Birmingham way? They're the preferred supplier of VCUs. I'm sure they fit them while you wait, possibly for free too. We've heard loads of horror stories about dodgy VCUs from eBay, but fingers crossed yours is ok.
 
Nodge! It's not just a case of having a new vcu fitted you need both bearings replaced and then have the whole thing balanced other wise your teeth will fall out!
Anyway with a 10 month warranty the guys home address an email address & personal mobile contact details I felt pretty confident, besides I never knew about Bell Eng but I'll look them up for future reference thanks!
 
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It's not just a case of having a new vcu fitted you need both bearings replaced and then have the whole thing balanced other wise your teeth will fall out!

New bearings yes (genuine are the only ones worth considering). Balancing? That's a new one on me, and neat trick, as the VCU 90% full of thick fluid, which can't be balanced. Every time it stops turning, the fluid will settle in a new place, making balancing impossible. The propshafts are balanced independently, so they can be fitted in any position to the VCU or themselves. I've been working on Freelander for 15 years and never had vibration issues from a VCU or propshafts, as long as the mounts are in good condition. But as long as your happy, and the VCU works correctly, then that's all that matters.
 
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hi all
wading through my issues but finally did a torque test
i only had a 1 meter bar and i hung two gallon cans with 7 liters
of water
it took 40 seconds
any good?
cheers all mentally ill gaylander warriors
 
hi all
wading through my issues but finally did a torque test
i only had a 1 meter bar and i hung two gallon cans with 7 liters
of water
it took 40 seconds
any good?
cheers all mentally ill gaylander warriors
7 litres at 1 meter is 9.8 x 1 x 7 = 68.6 Newton's of pressure. Calculating that back by deviding by 9.8 and 1.2 gives a comparison weight of 5.8kg at 1.2m. That would be about 29 seconds.

If the force applied is below 94 Newton's the time can vary quite a bit as it's in the non linear region of the graph.
 
Nodge! Going back to your post about balancing. I might have been wrong? maybe Shelley Shafts just balanced the two prop shafts and then built it all up with the new bearings ready to fit. However it's silky smooth now!
 
Spinus. Read what Bell Engineering say about testing your VCU. I'm not quoting anything they say just read it mate!

http://www.bellengineering.co.uk/

You're fairly new here so you're probably not aware that this is an On going saga of disagreement.

Having heard both sides slug it out for years I'm of the opinion that Bells method is the most reliable but necessitates removing the VCU to bench test.

The OWUT while perhaps not giving such an accurate indication of the state of the VCU is undoubtably an extremely useful DIY driveway guide that has been thoroughly researched and evidenced here on LZ (and probably elsewhere).

While I respect BEng in their expertise and workmanship in their field their description of the OWUT is entirely unfair and unevidenced and I suspect driven by other motives.
 
You're fairly new here so you're probably not aware that this is an On going saga of disagreement.

Having heard both sides slug it out for years I'm of the opinion that Bells method is the most reliable but necessitates removing the VCU to bench test.

The OWUT while perhaps not giving such an accurate indication of the state of the VCU is undoubtably an extremely useful DIY driveway guide that has been thoroughly researched and evidenced here on LZ (and probably elsewhere).

While I respect BEng in their expertise and workmanship in their field their description of the OWUT is entirely unfair and unevidenced and I suspect driven by other motives.
Nice reply :)

I did ask on an engineering forum what they thought and the response that came back was the the OWUT was almost as reliable as testing the VCU in isolation on a bench.
 
The results given from the one wheel up test owut are the same as measuring using the bench test, apart from the timing differs by the ratio across the diff. That makes the bench test timings quicker than OWUT results by a set factor.

The only issue with the owut is the brakes may catch. If your result is not what it should be then lift both rear wheels and spin them to check for the brakes catching.

Bell Engineering supported and helped with the design/argueing of the OWUT many years ago and supported it at the time. They have been asked to change their website before, and did, carefully.
 
Nodge! Going back to your post about balancing. I might have been wrong? maybe Shelley Shafts just balanced the two prop shafts and then built it all up with the new bearings ready to fit. However it's silky smooth now!
The propshafts are individually balanced at the GKN factory, but could go out of balance in a few instances. Being bent from an impact with a rock would do it, or throwing a balance weight would be another reason.

The VCU isn't balanced at all, and would be impossible to balance, due to the fact it's 90% full of thick fluid, the remaining 10% being just air. This fluid does settle to the bottom of the unit when it's been sat for a while. This would throw it out of balance when it starts rotating. The action of the plates slipping slightly while the unit is spun in normal use, will restore it's balance, within a few hundred yards of driving away. To eliminate excessive vibration when staring from cold, the VCU is supported on flexible mounts, which absorbs the out of balance forces until balance is restored after driving for a while.
While I respect BEng in their expertise and workmanship in their field their description of the OWUT is entirely unfair and unevidenced and I suspect driven by other motives.
Absolutely. And unfounded, considering just how much business this forum there sent his way over the years.
Bell Engineering supported and helped with the design/argueing of the OWUT many years ago and supported it at the time. They have been asked to change their website before, and did, carefully.
Agreed.
The OWUT was something that Austin at Bell originally supported. It's just a hunch, but I suspect he realised that owners doing the OWUT at home might affect sales, so he changed his mind on it completely, now claiming its not a valid test, along with driving in circles.

I believe that it's the fastest and most reliable way to test the VCU on the vehicle, without the need to a 20HP lathe and torque measuring equipment.
 
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well
that was deep
anyway lord hippo
in your opinion with my results is it ok?
so i can move on to other problems
which are numerous
 
angrycheese
cheers for imput
ive read all bell engineering tests and watched the owut
and im comfortable that the test gives a good indication of the health of the vcu
 

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